Netrebko's ever-ripening vocal timbre is thrilling in its amplitude, and she has developed into an incisive singing actress who is able to make her performances "read" both onstage and on the home screen. Her face is now as transparently expressive as her voice, and she truly knows how to listen and react to other singers and how to hold a close-up. She offers a radically different but entirely successful rake on "Mi chiamano Mimì," breaking down on "il primo bacio dell' aprile e mio," as if aware that she may not live to see another spring . . . Netrebko puts her richly colored chest register to dramatic use in the more desperate passages of Act III . . . by dint of sheer charm, Beczala triumphs . . . and gives a fine performance filled with sweetness and caressing tone. He and Netrebko have always paired well onstage, and this performance is no exception . . . The Schaunard of Alessio Arduini shows promise; he is an attractive performer who enters energetically into the action and has a voice that is distinctive and pointed in timbre . . . Daniele Gatti and the Vienna Philharmonic do full justice to Puccini's soaring score.

Record Review /
Eric Myers,
Opera News (New York) / 01. March 2013

For their spirited, inaugural production, the Festspiele have cannily chosen hip, Italian director Damiano Michieletto, with his trademark contemporary slant. They also have an excellent cast . . . [Polish tenor Piotr Beczala] makes a lean and hungry Rodolfo. Vocally he is ardent of tone and . . . his excellent top notes are all in place. Massimo Cavalletti presents a fine, resonant Marcello . . . a convincing actor. As a highly colourful Schaunard, Alessio Arduini is a real find. His freely ranging, richly focussed baritone is magnetic and he has bags of stage presence. Carlo Colombara makes a reliable Colline . . . [Anna Netrebko]: a compelling dramatic performance. The voice is somewhat thicker . . . at the bottom, but the top notes are still thrilling. Her duets with Beczala are radiant. As Musetta, Salzburg have cast Georgian coloratura Nino Machaidze. Her shrill and sharp-of-tongue creation sings like a dream and looks a million dollars. Daniele Gatti's pacing of the score is immaculate with plenty of punch when required but a refined approach to the atmospheric later scenes. Needless to say, the Vienna Philharmonic are superlative.